Victoria Road School, Armistice float

19th June 1919. As the Armistice for ending the First World War came into force at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, so the float shown here getting ready to join a procession had a similar number relationship. The float is in Victoria Road School playground and represents the British Armed Services. All the schools of Morley provided floats on different themes connected with the Great War. Altogether there were 19 floats pulled by 19 horses to celebrate the signing of the Peace Treaty (Treaty of Versailles) which came into force on 19th June 1919 when most places in the country organised a similar event to commemorate the proceedings.
An official programme was printed and the procession took an organised route through the town, passing close to the schools which contributed to it - Morley Secondary School, Cross Hall, Bridge Street, Peel Street, Victoria Road and St. Peter's but not as far as Churwell. The procession came to a conclusion with a choir of schoolchildren singing appropriate hymns. Photograph from the David Atkinson Archive.